'Gypsy' playwright Arthur Laurents mourned

In this March 18, 1965 file photo, some of the leading persons involved in the musical play “Do I Hear A Waltz?” crowd together backstage at Broadway’s 46th Street Theater after the show opened in New York. From left are composer Richard Rodgers, performers Elizabeth Allen, Sergio Franchi and Carol Bruce and librettist Arthur Laurents. Laurents, the director, playwright and screenwriter who wrote such enduring stage musicals as "West Side Story" and "Gypsy," as well as the movie classics "Rope" and "The Way We Were," died Thursday May 5, 2011. He was 93. AP Photo)
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In this March 18, 1965 file photo, some of the leading persons involved in the musical play “Do I Hear A Waltz?” crowd together backstage at Broadway’s 46th Street Theater after the show opened in New York. From left are composer Richard Rodgers, performers Elizabeth Allen, Sergio Franchi and Carol Bruce and librettist Arthur Laurents. Laurents, the director, playwright and screenwriter who wrote such enduring stage musicals as "West Side Story" and "Gypsy," as well as the movie classics "Rope" and "The Way We Were," died Thursday May 5, 2011. He was 93. AP Photo)
/ AP

Laurents' biggest film successes occurred in the 1970s, first as screenwriter for "The Way We Were," the 1973 movie about lovers pulled apart by the ideological conflicts of the McCarthy period of the late 1940s and 1950s.

He also wrote the script for "The Turning Point" (1977), "Anastasia" (1956) and the unsuccessful "Bonjour Tristesse" (1958).

Laurents was not immune to stage failure, either. "Anyone Can Whistle," his 1964 collaboration with Sondheim, lasted only nine performances on Broadway. Yet thanks to its original cast recording featuring Angela Lansbury and Lee Remick, the show developed a cult following among musical-theater buffs.

In 1991, Laurents directed the musical "Nick and Nora," which he called "the biggest and most public flop of my career." Based on Dashiell Hammett's famous "Thin Man" detective couple - Nick and Nora Charles - the show played nearly two months of preview performances before finally opening - and closing - in less than a week. This year, its dubious record for having the longest preview period on Broadway was beaten by "Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark."

Last year, he established an award for emerging playwrights through the Laurents-Hatcher Foundation, named in honor of Tom Hatcher, an aspiring actor who became his partner. The couple remained together for 52 years until Hatcher's death in 2006. Laurents' play "Two Lives" was written about their relationship.

In recent weeks, Laurents had finished work on a new play and had reportedly concluded negotiations with a major studio for a new feature film version of "Gypsy" with Streisand in the lead.

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Former AP Drama Writer Michael Kuchwara contributed to this report before his death in 2010.